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Very few people here celebrate Christmas at  all, but the few who at least mark it prepare by buying apples which they then give to their friends on Christmas Eve. This baffled me at first, but then I worked out that it's because in Chinese, Christmas Eve is called 平安夜 (píng ān yè), literally peaceful night, and that is also the name of the carol "Silent Night" in Chinese.

'Apple' in Chinese is 苹果 (píng guǒ) with the first character being pronounced identically to the first in 平安夜 (píng ān yè). In Chinese culture, these homophonic coincidences are often used to cross-allude to otherwise dissimilar concepts. There are thousands of them. The number 4 is unlucky because it is a homophone for 'death' etc.

Peaceful Apples

Every year at Christmas, my friends send me pictures of themselves holding apples. Here is a composite from the last two years.

Very few people here celebrate Christmas at  all, but the few who at least mark it prepare by buying apples which they then give to their friends on Christmas Eve. This baffled me at first, bu tthen I worked out that it's because in Chinese, Christmas Eve is called 平安夜 (píng ān yè) , literally peaceful night, and that is also the name of the carol "Silent Night" in Chinese.

'Apple' in Chinese is 苹果 (píng guǒ) with the first character being pronounced identically to the first in 平安夜 (píng ān yè). In Chinese culture, these homophonic coincidences are often used to cross-allude to otherwise dissimilar concepts. There are thousands of them. The number 4 is unlucky because it is a homophone for 'death' etc.

Peaceful Apples

Every year at Christmas, my friends send me pictures of themselves holding apples. Here is a composite from the last two years.

Very few people here celebrate Christmas at  all, but the few who at least mark it prepare by buying apples which they then give to their friends on Christmas Eve. This baffled me at first, bu tthen I worked out that it's because in Chinese, Christmas Eve is called 平安夜 (píng ān yè) , literally peaceful night, and that is also the name of the carol "Silent Night" in Chinese.

'Apple' in Chinese is 苹果 (píng guǒ) with the first character being pronounced identically to the first in 平安夜 (píng ān yè). In Chinese culture, these homophonic coincidences are often used to cross-allude to otherwise dissimilar concepts. There are thousands of them. The number 4 is unlucky because it is a homophone for 'death' etc.

Every year at Christmas, my friends send me pictures of themselves holding apples. Here is a composite from the last two years.